Rain water storage tank underneath my kitchen, advice needed!

[yourmatejeff]

Hi all, I've found a rain water cistern underneath my house in Nottinghamshire. I've read some information on here about what they were used for etc. I'm looking for advice on how to cap off the rain water inlet and stop the overflow which I believe goes out underneath my lawn. There also seems to be a lead pipe at the back which I do not know the purpose of, Picture attached for reference. I have pumped out most of the water and it is now only an inch or so deep.

 

[overlander matt]

We also had a cistern under our kitchen here in Derbyshire. It wasn't really proving too helpful and we couldn't find a use for it so we filled it in. There was an obvious clay pipe leading to it from outside so we chopped this out and that was the end of it!

A builder we have used said it's a fairly common thing in these parts and he's seen quite a few in older homes of the right vintage. I think his explanation was it's a source of soft water for laundry purposes.

 

[yourmatejeff]

We also had a cistern under our kitchen here in Derbyshire. It wasn't really proving too helpful and we couldn't find a use for it so we filled it in. There was an obvious clay pipe leading to it from outside so we chopped this out and that was the end of it!

A builder we have used said it's a fairly common thing in these parts and he's seen quite a few in older homes of the right vintage. I think his explanation was it's a source of soft water for laundry purposes.

This is the only (probably quite expensive) purpose I can think of. Just need to figure out what the lead pipe at the rear is for now.

 

[Craig89]

The lead pipe was probably the feed pipe to the hand pump in the house. We have a similar rain water storage "well" outside our back door. With a (roughly) 1.5" diameter pipe that went into the house as the feed

 

[yourmatejeff]

So with the heavy rain yesterday the rain water tank has filled up again. There's no obvious inlet anywhere above ground and my gutters drain in to where the poop goes. Looks like I'll be squeezing myself in the tank and finding where it's coming in. My lawn does look quite sodden is it possible that the inlet is under my lawn?

 

[Craig89]

Likewise. If its anything like mine the ground water just percolates into it, especially with rain like yesterday. In fact I have to pump the water out of mine so the standing water on the grass can then soak away into it

 

[yourmatejeff]

So I squeezed myself in to the cistern today and quickly realised it is much deeper than I originally anticipated. However I did manage to pump more of the water out than last time after moving some of the soil and gravel that was in there... The inlet pipe there is facing west towards my neighbours house (I'm in and end of terrace). I believe the neighbours also have these cisterns too. Is it possible that they feed eachother kind of like a daisy chain?

 

[malcolm]

It's very possible that the cisterns feed each other. It would really annoy the neighbour if that pipe is their only overflow and you blocked it off.

 

[yourmatejeff]

My theory is to plug the "master" inlet if they are fed from each other. Now just to find it!

 

[Wetdog]

Hi, I've attached a photo of the cistern we uncovered last year. Its now inside a new extension in the middle of what will be my Kitchen! You can see the lead pick up pipe going to the right. that went most of the way down inside and then across and through the outside wall of the house. It had a little trap formed in it before it went through the house wall. My assumption is there would have been a hand pump on the end of it in the house and the trap is to stop it losing its prime. The inlet was a single 4" salt glazed pipe that headed for the corner of the house and an old rainwater pipe gully we also uncovered beneath modern paving. 2m deep x 2m diameter, all brick with a domed top and concave base all with a cement wash inside. About half full of black sludge and then full to top with crystal clear water. I'm planning to put a glass top on it and then once I understand what temperature it sits at decide what type of drink to keep in it!

 

[paulc]

I'm planning to put a glass top on it and then once I understand what temperature it sits at decide what type of drink to keep in it!

Grape juice of one sort or another.

 

[Gothichome]

Hello Yourmate Jeff, we to have a large cictern that used to flow into a smaller cistern under the kitchen. The main cistern fed the smaller with rain water via a lead pipe. The rain water was sucked up into the kitchen sink by a simple two valve hand punp (very upscale in our area at the time) I think it was a pretty standard way of doing things. The out side cistern has now been repurposed into the sediment tank for our septic system. I don’t think we will be employing to store grape juice of any kind. But I can see the benefits of a fresh water storage for said grape juice. If I recall it was common to store food stuffs like cheese in cisterns and most probably grape juice of various levels fermentation.
Ron